Glide Updates - Running out of updates

[Mauricio_Gonzalez]

Hi everyone! I recently got an email from glide regarding my updates. I launched my first app this month, and it seems like I am about to hit my starter plan limit just after 10 days… has anyone faced this issue? Do you have any suggestions on optimizing? I saw Glide’s documentation, but it just doesn’t feel relevant enough.

I am just wondering how scalable Glide is now way further down the development process! Any ideas, recommendations on how to optimize my app, or just ideas in general are very appreciated!

Main concern is that if a starter plan cannot handle even one app, the price of my project will go way beyond planned, making it unaffordable to SMB, which seems like one of the audiences Glide is targeting to.

I know there are additional options, such as purchasing 1K updates for $10, but it just doesn’t sound feasible when thinking of the monthly price for small clients, especially outside of the US.

Thanks so much!

[Jeff_Hager]

Start by looking at everything that updates data in your tables. That’s what constitutes an update. Also check any integrations you use as some of them also require additional updates to run. If your app is using a lot of updates, then the solution is simply to figure out what is using updates and modify your app to use less.

[gvalero]

Hola Mauricio,

Is there any chance to view and interact with your APP to see what your flow is like and give you some tips to fix or reduce your updates?

Any link to share?

Saludos!

[Mauricio_Gonzalez]

I believe one of the main challenges I have is that I have a lot of custom forms, which is partly because some functions that I want to do are not achievable with a normal form screen. (e.g., booking from available slots, making sure that users do not add duplicate information, etc).

[Mauricio_Gonzalez]

Yes, absolutely! Let me work on duplicating the app and share a link within this week.

[Jeff_Hager]

I feel your pain there. I use custom forms in some cases too. @Robert_Petitto has been using a concept of hybrid forms where some values are entered in essentially a custom form, but other values that do not need to be validated are entered into a native form container on the same screen. Maybe that is something you could consider.

Radar Address Complete in Form

What I’ve been doing lately is to use what I’m calling “hybrid” forms: show new screen action instead of form screen add an input component for any input you want to validate against another table (using relations, etc) add a form container beneath the input for the remainder of the form, but only display the form container if the input outside of the form container is “valid”. This way you still have a form experience with less updates but can still leverage the custom form experience for th…

Radar Address Complete in Form

Here’s one example of a “Hybrid Form” in Glide: Kind of a combination of a form screen and a custom form. The setup: Helper Table for the form Show New Screen → Helper Table (Or Show Detail Screen → Single Value → Helper Table → Whole Row ) Entry components → User Specific columns for any entry that needs live relations/lookups/calculations Form Container to finish off the form experience After Submit Action → Close Overlay/Show Notification/Etc.

[Robert_Petitto]

Also forms where you can use a custom collection within for JUST the elements that need calculation.

Cool little trick using a Helper Table → Custom Collection within a Form Screen to avoid having to create a custom form.

[Mauricio_Gonzalez]

Thank you so much for these recommendations @Robert_Petitto @Jeff_Hager - really appreciate it.

I will most likely used a hybrid type of form, as suggested in the videos. Curious queston - how does Glide count an update with a custom form?

For example, if I have a text entry component, and I add my phone number “12345”, does it count one update for each number (or anything) I am adding? (e.g. 5 updates in this case)

Let me know if my question is unclear! Just want to understand the magnitude of the limitations with custom forms.

[Krivo]

@Mauricio_Gonzalez it will be one update per edit. A form only requires one update

[Robert_Petitto]

Every time you (enter an entry component + edit a value + leave the entry component) = 1 update

[Mauricio_Gonzalez]

Understood. thanks so much!